Monday, February 25, 2008

Nancy Faust: Star Organist

One of the things that make White Sox games very unique is the organ playing of Nancy Faust. Along with the smells and sights of old Comiskey Park, I remember the sounds of the organ with every game.

It's hard to imagine that this petite, pretty lady can whip a crowd into a frenzy, but it's true. Her renditions of Queen's, "We Will Rock You" and Steam's, "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" are legendary for the way a crowd would get into it. She would sometime elicit a greater response than the team on the field. Especially during the leaner years of the late 80's.

The trend of, "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey goodbye", started right here with Nancy Faust. She had been playing it for awhile, at a fan's request, and one game vs. Kansas City, the fans started singing along. The rest is baseball history.

Nancy has scaled back her performances to just day games, since 2006. After four decades behind the organ, Nancy deserves a bit of a break. I did miss her musical musings at the last night game I attended. A game isn't quite the same without Nancy providing the background music.

Nancy has a lot of history with the White Sox. I can't picture a season without her. Most of my childhood memories have Nancy's music in the background. I just wish I was at the game where she played "Chariots Of Fire" when the hefty trainer Herm Schneider ran onto the field. That would've been worth the price of admission right there.

Organists playing in baseball parks are a dying breed. Please enjoy them while they last.

2 comments:

Nancy is one classy lady. As a kid learning to play the organ, going to a Sox game and saying "hi" to Nancy Faust was a big deal to me. She's a very gracious asset to the Sox organization. I was wondering about her last season. I took my kids to an evening game and knew something was missing.